Welcome to The International Association for the Study of Popular Music UK and Ireland Branch

MusicID Digital Research Fellowship

Posted: June 23rd, 2022 | Filed under: Calls for Papers | No Comments »

Call for Proposals
Deadline: August 1, 2022

MusicID is pleased to announce that we are now accepting applications for our fifth annual Digital Research Fellowship.

MusicID is an academic platform that compiles current and historical music industry data into a single, easy-to-use source. Incorporating 5,452 different charts spanning 74 countries, MusicID provides access to chart information from Billboard and the Official Charts Company dating back to the 1950s, as well as contemporary statistics on iTunes downloads, Spotify and Apple Music streams, and Shazam searches. It also includes built-in visualization tools which allow users to create and export customizable tables and graphs.

https://musicidhub.com/musicid-digital-research-fellowships

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RMA Vision, Mission, Identity

Posted: June 22nd, 2022 | Filed under: News | No Comments »

Mon, 18 July 2022, 13:00 – 17:00 BST (UTC+1) 

A half-day virtual symposium on the identity of the RMA in the context of contemporary musical culture and music studies.

Registration via Eventbrite. All welcome!

Since its founding as the “Musical Association” in 1874, both music and the ways we understand it have changed significantly. In recent years, there has been a move towards greater diversity within the organisation, both in its membership and in the areas of music study and practice that it encompasses. These changes have highlighted a need to reflect on the identity of the Royal Musical Association. Why might some people object to the remit and name of the Royal Musical Association? And why might others find it unproblematic?

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Mainstream Silence: Thinking about the Music Everyone Listens to but Nobody Really Discusses

Posted: June 22nd, 2022 | Filed under: Calls for Papers | No Comments »

University of Strasbourg
December 1-2 2022

Organizers: Elsa Grassy, University of Strasbourg, Isabelle Marc (USIAS-UCM)
Scientific committee: John Mullen (Rouen), Christophe Pirenne (Liège)

Whether we choose it or whether it is chosen for us, music is with us all the time, both during exceptional events in our lives and in the humdrum everyday. Researchers have delved into the use of music in daily life, in particular in connection with sound reproduction technology and with socializing habits (DeNora 2011, Kassabian, Boschi et Garcia Quiñones 2013). However, rare have been researchers, particularly in France, who have looked at majority or mainstream music genres, artists, or songs with the aim of analyzing them from an aesthetic or social point of view (Pirenne 2021). In this way, popular music studies seems to have reproduced inside the popular field the aesthetic and value-ridden hierarchy which held sway between classical and popular music.

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There’s a song to be sung:  Critical reflections on the music and influence of Johnny Clegg

Posted: June 20th, 2022 | Filed under: Calls for Papers | No Comments »

Proposal submission: 30 September 2022
Full chapters due: 30 June 2023

Introduction

As a South African musician, anthropologist, ethnomusicologist and cultural activist, Johnny Clegg has had a significant impact on the South African musical landscape. His career, which began with long-time friend SiphoMchunu in the 1970s, spanned 5 decades and involved success with Juluka, Savuka and as a solo artist, both in South African and internationally. During the apartheid era he experienced police harassment and broadcast censorship and became overtly involved in South African cultural politics, being instrumental in the formation of South African Musicians Alliance. He became embroiled in debates around the cultural boycott. Academically, Clegg had an honours degree in Anthropology and lectured in Anthropology for four years before turning to music full time. He presented and published academic papers with a particular focus on Zulu music, dance and culture. In 2015 he was honoured with an OBE. His death in July 2019 cut short an active and engaging musical career. In 2021 an autobiography, Scatterling of Africa, which covered his early years, was published.

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SEM Student News, 18.1 (“Music and Pleasure”)

Posted: June 10th, 2022 | Filed under: Calls for Papers | No Comments »

This is the second call for submissions for the Spring/Summer 2022 issue of SEM Student News. The theme for this new issue, Vol. 18, No.1, is “Music and Pleasure.” The frequent stratification between professional musicianship and making music “for pleasure” often frames the latter category as something less serious or valuable. But for many of us, participating in and experiencing music in informal or communal spaces fills us with powerful sensations of joy. Music is often a part of other activities associated with pleasure such as sex, the alteration of one’s consciousness through drugs or meditation, and physical expressions like dancing. Music is also frequently integral to the pleasure gained from forming connection with a group (e.g., singing songs at sporting events) or passing through different stages of our lives (e.g., music in play settings among children). In this issue, we want to take seriously the interrogation of pleasure as it relates to these and other activities in and around music.

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